[Capdist-announce] PRESS RELEASE: Ancram Opera House Presents "INVASION!" August 5-21

[Gail Burns]

Friends -


I am delighted to invite you and a guest to attend and review the AOH
production of INVASION! AOH is a small venue and seating is extremely
limited, so please RSVP to me here at gburns35 at gmail.com as soon as
possible to reserve your press comps. And don't hesitate to contact me if
you need any more information or images.


Gail


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 28, 2022

CONTACT: gburns35 at gmail.com

PHOTOS: https://tinyurl.com/ymepsacu


ANCRAM OPERA HOUSE PRESENTS “INVASION!”

“...a slyly entertaining comedy with a sharp political edge.”

- The New York Times

ANCRAM, NY [July 28, 2022] - Ancram Opera House presents INVASION! a
satirical comedy by Jonas Hassen Khemiri, translated by Rachel
Willson-Broyles, and directed by Jeffrey Mousseau. All performances take
place at AOH August 5 - 21, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, and
Sundays at 3 pm.

“INVASION! is a subversive satire that constantly upends expectations and
calls into question how we inherently view one another based upon a
person's name or skin color,” Mousseau explained. “And with increasing
violence and harmful rhetoric in public spaces arising in response to
America's shifting demographics, the play is as urgent today as ever.”

INVASION!’s satirical comedy centers on a name: Abulkasem. What is
introduced as an amorphous word of many meanings spirals and shape-shifts
into a kaleidoscopic range of identities. Abulkasem is an uncle visiting
from Lebanon, a renowned theater director, an asylum-seeking apple picker,
the world’s most dangerous terrorist. In a whirlwind of interconnected
vignettes, we search for the answer. Who is Abulkasem?

With biting comedy and multilayered storytelling, INVASION! confronts
prejudices about identity, race, and language.

The multinational company of actors, all making their Ancram debuts, are
Ali Andre Ali, Abuzar Farrukh, Sophie Zmorrod Laruelle, and Ahmad Maher.

The production team includes lighting designer Jess Elliott, costume
designer Rashidah Nelson, scenic designer Sarah Edkins and sound designer
Brendan Doyle, Hannah Schiffer wil stage Manage.

INVASION! is underwritten by Gerry Fultz and Claudia Perles.

Tickets are $40 each, available at www.ancramoperahouse.org or by calling
(518) 329-0114

INVASION! is generously sponsored by Claudia Perles and Gerry Futz.

AT-A-GLANCE

INVASION!

by Jonas Hassen Khemiri

Translated from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles

Directed by Jeffrey Mousseau

Featuring Ali Andre Ali, Abuzar Farrukh, Sophie Zmorrod Laruelle, and Ahmad
Maher

Stage Manager Hannah Schiffer

Dramaturg: Vanessa Baer

Assistant Director: Celeste Gimonet

Lighting Design: Jess Elliott

Costume Design: Rashidah Nelson

Scenic Design: Sarah Edkins

Sound Design: Brendan Doyle

Friday, August 5 at 8 pm

Saturday, August 6 at 8 pm

Sunday, August 7 at 3 pm

Thursday, August 11 at 8 pm

Friday, August 12 at 8 pm

Saturday, August 13 at 8 pm

Sunday, August 14 at 3 pm

Thursday, August 18 at 8 pm

Friday, August 19 at 8 pm

Saturday, August 20 at 8 pm

Sunday, August 21 at 3 pm

at the Ancram Opera House

1330 County Route 7, Ancram, NY 12502

Tickets are $40 available at ancramoperahouse.org
<https://www.ancramoperahouse.org/>

About the Playwright

Jonas Hassen Khemiri is an award-winning Swedish novelist and playwright.
He is the author of five novels, six plays, and a collection of essays and
short stories. Khemiri’s novels have been translated into over thirty
languages. His plays have been performed by over a hundred international
companies on stages from Stockholm to Berlin to New York to London.

About the Director

Jeffrey Mousseau, is a theatre director, producer and educator and
co-director of Ancram Opera House in Columbia County, NY, where his
acclaimed October 2021 production of An Iliad with actor MaConnia Chesser
has been remounted and currently on stage (through July 3) at Shakespeare
and Company in Lenox, MA.

For Ancram Opera House, he has also helmed Homebody by Tony Kushner
(Berkshire Theatre Critics Award, Outstanding Solo Performance); Young Jean
Lee’s We’re Gonna Die; the American premiere of In Praise of Elephants by
Kevin Dyer; a site-specific new work, Performing Olana, on the grounds of
Olana, Hudson River School painter Frederic Church’s historic home near
Hudson, NY; and two Barbara Wiechmann plays, Aunt Leaf which also toured to
Aguascalientes, Mexico, and the premiere of a music-theatre adaptation of The
Snow Queen.

Locally, his work has also been seen at Stageworks/Hudson and Hudson Opera
House. Other directing credits include The Kennedy Center in Washington,
HERE Arts Center in NYC where he is an alum of the HERE Artist Residency
Program, numerous productions as founding artistic director of the Elliot &
IRNE award-winning Coyote Theatre in Boston, American Southwest Theater,
Provincetown Rep, and Florida Studio Theatre.

In addition to his tenure at The Coyote Theatre in Boston, he has served as
general manager of the Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists;
curator of the performance series, Start HERE: Innovative Theater for Young
People, at HERE, NYC; program director at Tribeca Performing Arts Center,
NYC; and producing director of the Smithsonian Computerworld Awards held
annually at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC.

As a guest artist, he has lectured or directed at Brandeis University,
Emerson College, University at Albany and Siena College.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

Rachel Willson-Broyles became interested in Sweden and the Swedish language
at an early age. She majored in Scandinavian Studies at Gustavus Adolphus
College in St. Peter, Minnesota, and received her BA there in 2002. She
started translating while a graduate student at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, where she received a Ph.D. in Scandinavian Studies in
2013.  Rachel lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota. www.rachelwillsonbroyles.com

ABOUT THE CAST

Ali Andre Ali (Actor A) is an actor and musician of Palestinian and Irish
descent based in New York City. Some of his credits include One Night (Target
Margin), American Dreams (Working Theater), 10,000 Balconies
(TheatreSquared) and the Eh Dah? Questions for My Father Hour Forum
(Hypokrit/Next Door @NYTW). TV: “Ramy.” As a musician he writes and
performs with his music duo fajjr+ali. Their latest album Insecurities will
be available on all major streaming platforms on August 12th.
ww.aliandreali.com | @aliandreali



Abuzar Farrukh (Actor B) is an actor, born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan.
Abuzar is absolutely honored to be making his Ancram Opera House debut.
Select credits: Disgraced (Chester Theatre Company), Refugee (Joakim
Interfest, Serbia), Mitigating Damages (Castillo Theatre), Much Ado About
Nothing (Brown Box Theatre Project). He holds a BA in Theatre from UMass
Amherst, where he was the recipient of the Ed Golden Acting Award. A
special thank you to Jeffrey Mousseau & Paul Ricciardi for this opportunity.

Sophie Zmorrod Laruelle (Actor C): Theatre: Hamlet in Machine Learning
Hamlet (The Brick/MetaPhys Ed), Scheherazade in Marjana and the Forty
Thieves (Target Margin), Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Everybody, The Winter’s
Tale, White Noise (Brown/Trinity Rep), The María Irene Fornés Marathon (The
Public), The Protest (Cherry Lane), Ocean Filibuster (Pearl D’Amour) and
James Joyce’s The Dead (The Hangar). Film/TV: For Life (ABC/Hulu).
Currently pursuing her MFA in Acting from Brown/Trinity Rep. BA cum laude
from Columbia University in Music. www.sophielaruelle.com.
@sophiezlaruelle.

Ahmad Maher (Actor D) is an Egyptian born NYC based actor who has performed
in a variety of countries such as Egypt, Sweden and the United States.
Ahmad is a graduate of the American Academy of the Dramatic Arts and was
selected to be part of the Academy Company 2021/22. Selected NYC credits
include Brian in Good Things Happen (Lenfest Center for the Arts), Louis
XVI in Marie Antoinette (AADA Company) & Man 5 in Jesus, Son of Man
(Everson Museum of Art). Ahmad is incredibly grateful for his family and
friends for their continuous support.

2022 SPONSORS

The 2022 season at the Ancram Opera House is made possible by the New York
State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor
and the New York State Legislature.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Ancram Center is located on unceded,  ancestral lands of the
Muh-he-con-ne-ok,  the Peoples of the Waters That Are Never  Still, and
overlooks the Roeliff Jansen Kill,  which was once called the Sonkippog
(cooling water). We pay tribute to and honor the  history of those who
precede us here.

ABOUT THE ANCRAM OPERA HOUSE

Located in southern Columbia County, the Ancram Opera House presents a mix
of contemporary theatre, alternative cabaret, and community programs.
Located in a converted former grange hall, AOH offers audiences a unique
opportunity to directly engage, up close, with visionary theatre artists at
the top of their field who are rarely seen in our region. For more
information visit www.ancramoperahouse.org.


###


-- 
Gail M. Burns
57 Linden Street
Williamstown, MA 01267-2511
413-458-4246 home
gburns35 at gmail.com <gailmburns at roadrunner.com>

Editor & Webmaster for Berkshire on Stage
https://berkshireonstage.blog/

PR & Marketing for the Ancram Opera House
https://www.ancramoperahouse.org/

Social Media & Webmaster for WAM Theatre
https://www.wamtheatre.com/

Social Media for Dolores Heights Improvement Club, Williamstown Community
Chest, and the Williamstown Historical Museum

Freelance Writer
<http://www.GailSez.org>
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